Corvallis Forest Stewardship Plan Update Task Force
About this Page: This page contains the work products to date of the Corvallis Forest Stewardship Plan Update Task Force, which is a policy-making body appointed by Public Works to advise the City Council. (The city rules state that policy-making groups are appointed by the mayor, but somehow Public Works has taken over this function).
We created this page because these resources are difficult to find on the city's website. Our group proposed a new vision that focused on forest preservation for drinking water, carbon sequestration and biodiversity. You can read OUR PROPOSED VISION HERE. While the task force's new version reflected some of our language, it remained focused on timber management. The City Council recommended a few changes to the task force version, which the task force approved at its July 26, 2023 meeting.
Vision Statement as revised by City Council and approved by the Task Force July 26, 2023:
“The Corvallis Forest within the Rock Creek Watershed is a model for sustainable forest management practices, esteemed by Corvallis residents as a diverse forested landscape that provides numerous benefits, including safe and reliable drinking water, resilience to climate change, diverse terrestrial and aquatic habitats for native species, and abundant carbon storage.”
To help achieve this vision, the City of Corvallis has developed the following ten guiding principles:
Resource Principles:
GP 1) The Corvallis Forest will be managed to support source water protection for high quality water for the City of Corvallis.
GP 2) The Corvallis Forest will be managed to prioritize protection of ecosystem functions including both diversity of terrestrial and aquatic habitats.
GP 3) The Corvallis Forest will be managed in a way that considers and promotes the climate benefits of forests (such as carbon storage) in context with other resources (such as water quality and habitat diversity).
Approach Principles:
GP 4) The Corvallis Forest will be managed to be comprised of a variety of different habitat and age structures and compositions to provide diversity of terrestrial and aquatic habitats.
GP 5) The Corvallis Forest will be managed for resiliency to fire, invasive species, insects, disease, and climate change.
GP 6) The Corvallis Forest will be managed in consideration of the numerous tradeoffs that occur with balancing multiple resource objectives.
GP 7) The City will control access to the Corvallis Forest to minimize the risk of fire, water
contamination, and the introduction of invasive species.
Other Principles:
GP 8) The Corvallis Forest will be a good neighbor by recognizing and managing for integration into the larger landscape, and its connections to the greater watershed.
GP 9) The Corvallis Forest will be available for approved educational, recreational, and research
opportunities.
GP 10) If any revenue is generated from the Corvallis Forest, it will be used to offset the cost of management of the forest.